A Different Take
by Dragonchad
Summary: Jaune wants to be a Huntsman, and his dad doesn’t want that life for him. Turns out that kids don’t always react in ways that you want, and Jaune decides being a Hunter with no training will work better than giving up on his dream.
1. Chapter One

His arms sung of exhaustion and exertion as he forced another swing. Despite the tiredness that felt as though it sank into his bones, Jaune Arc did not allow his slice to waver or fall.

A single line was carved into the tree, which now was already half severed, a testament to his single minded determination to repeat the _exact same stroke_.

Jaune returned to his starting position as he ignored the sweat dripping into his eyes. His blond hair was marred from the excess liquid, and he stubbornly refused to acknowledge the slight obscuring of his vision.

"RAGH!" He shouted, swinging with the same stance, the same slice, the same screaming of his muscles in protest.

The tree fell, the last half severed in one smooth stroke.

Jaune breathes out slowly, lowering his heart rate instinctually as he accepted that he was done.

He stepped to the side, took up a new position, and started cutting at another tree.

He would be a huntsmen.

_~Line Break_~

His father shook his head.

"No. I won't allow it. You would get eaten alive out there, Jaune. I don't want to lose my only son to the Grimm!" Jayne's father reasoned.

It was the same speech. It was heartfelt, yes, but his dad was a hunter himself. He made it home every day, safe and sound. He earned enough to feed his family, even having eight children. Jaune couldn't see how the man could be so hypocritical.

"That's what I thought." the man said upon seeing the defiance in Jaune's expression. "Which is why I've gone out of my way to let every huntsmen academy I could that you didn't even have your Aura unlocked. That you never attended a combat school. That you were as far from me as you could be without being a stranger." The man declared with an icy calm.

Jaune gritted his teeth. His chance to get into Beacon was as wasted as the Lien he'd just spent on forged transcripts. The other academies were just as wasted, as the Arc name carried far enough.

Jaune turned and walked away, ignoring the yell for him to come back, and walked to his room.

In just a few moments, Jaune had a bag with some clothes and spare Lien on his back and Crocea Mors, his grandfather's sword, at his hip.

"I will be a huntsmen." Jaune declared to himself, his eyes shining in the sunset. "If I can't train at an Academy, then I'll just start right now."

He hopped out the window in a practiced motion, and was gone before anyone realized.

~_Line__ Break_~

Two short weeks later, Jaune knew that he made the right choice.

When he left, it was with the single minded determination to become a huntsman. Three days after that, he protected a little girl from an Ursa, and figured that the pride and joy of helping people was his reward, and was content with his choice.

But a week and a half after he left was when he tasted life at last.

He had learned how to navigate quickly and sleep lightly in record time, but coming up on a little town on the outskirts of the kingdom was when he finally realized the terror that Grimm could inspire.

His first and immediate clue that something was wrong was the town gate. Outskirt towns often had defensible walls and one or two large gates that held off the majority of Grimm.

This one was wide open. Unmanned.

Inside the wall was chaos. Snarling Grimm and screaming villagers. Fire.

Death.

Jaune drew his sword and extended his sheathe into a shield and sprinted into the village. His practiced cuts and slashed were enough, and bone shattered and Grimm evaporated under his assault.

Time bled together, Ursa becoming Beowolves and Beowolves became Boarbatusk as Jaune waded through the town.

He snapped out of it when the last Grimm fully dissipated into black mist.

His first registered thought wasn't relief, or pride, but rather the sound of a pained gasp.

Jaune leapt over rubble and burnt support beams to find a wounded woman. A huntress. She was half covered by debris, and Jaune could see blood splattering everything.

Her wounded cough had him lifting the debris and urging her to crawl back. It was brutal to watch, especially as blood trailed from her previous position to her new one.

Jaune lowered the loose supports and stone as he kneeled next to the woman.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his heart in his throat.

All he received was a cough and a very raspy breath.

'_Is that what they mean by a death rattle_?' Jaune thought, only to wipe away the thought.

"No! You aren't dead yet! Aura can heal!" Jaune declared, or maybe begged.

The woman shook her head gently, unable to use any more strength.

Jaune refused to acknowledge her forfeiture. Maybe he could help? He hadn't gotten a refund for his forgery, but the man _had_ unlocked his aura for him to make up for it.

The energy of his soul eagerly pushed outwards to the woman, and a white light lit up the ruined building like a star.

~_Line Break_~

Jaune walked away from the town with a renewed determination. He found his semblance, and it made him feel better about his decision.

He could reinforce people's aura. Since the Aura was naturally a shield and a healing mechanism, amplifying the stuff was just as good as healing them.

What's more, he could use it on himself. While aura was usually a shield that absorbed physical damage, even if not necessarily removing the pain, amplifying it like he did could make it an infallible shield. More like a bunker, in comparison.

He had the perfect semblance to help people. Just like he always wanted.

He left as the sun rose, ignorant of the messages sent by the huntress he had saved. Messages that were found and intercepted before they reached their intended recipient.

Messages read by a brown and pink set of eyes.


	2. Chapter Two

Jaune was just as ignorant of his sudden popularity as he could possibly be until the girl finally tracked him down.

She appeared with a fluorish, sitting in front of him between one blink of his eyes and the next.

What was more impressive was how she instinctively blinked at the blade that was suddenly less than a centimeter from her face.

"Oh, sorry." Jaune apologized, sheathing the sword quickly. "I've been dealing with Grimm a lot lately."

She blinked again, and double checked her scroll.

"_I was just saved by a newbie huntsman. Kind of clumsy, but his semblance is a godsend. Healed me up something fierce when I should have been a goner. Do you know who he is?_" It read, along with a clear picture.

Same guy, but calling him clumsy would be wrong, or she would have a new gash. The sword hadn't quivered or shook in his hand, and it was exactly where he wanted it to be.

That, or the kid had managed to learn _that_ quickly.

She smiled and waved.

"Hi." Jaune replied. "What's your name? Mine's Jaune."

She pulled up a notepad on her scroll and typed her name out. Neopolitan. Neo for short.

"You mute? I know just a little bit of sign language..." Jaune told her.

Neo only smiled.

Jaune adjusted his pack, which was much less inflated than when he had started out, just a few short weeks ago. "So did you need something, or what?"

The notepad turned back toward her as she typed...

You.

"Err? What about me?" Jaune asked, lowering a hand so that his thumb was in his pocket.

"I was looking for you. You healed a huntress in some backwater town a week ago, right?" Her notepad read.

"Yeah, that was me." Jaune agreed carefully. "Why do you need to know?"

Here Neo had two options. She could shanghai him, or she could actually convince him to work with her. Both options had merit, but more pluses derived from her convincing him. She could kidnap him as an alternative option.

"I need someone with your talents to help me out. A partner. Backup. I can make it worth your while." Neo typed, and tried to hide her eagerness as he read it.

"I'm not in it for money..." Jaune replied, but he didn't say no.

"You don't have to be." She typed. "You can just do the same thing you are doing now, except I'll have a place for you to stay and some money to tide you over, with the idea that you'll heal me up if I get hurt."

"I don't know... what if I want to go further away than the place you have?"

"I have a few, you'll just let me know which one you are using when you switch to it."

Jaune was teetering on acceptance, she could tell.

"Can I see how your healing works though? Before I buy?" She typed, giving him as sweet a smile as she practiced giving.

"Well, sure but how would we...?"

She whipped a blade out of a parasol and slit her wrist, right down the length of her forearm.

"Oh my god!" Jaune exclaimed, his hands lighting with white fire as he touched her shoulder. "That was crazy. What if I was a liar?"

Neo didn't hear him though, her eyes were blazing white along with her hair as the overload of aura set her mind to blank. The cut on her arm vanished like it hadn't ever been cut, and she felt like she could do anything.

Then Jaune let her go, semblance fading. Her high didn't recede immediately, but without the battery on tap, she slowly felt her features return to their normal colors as she clutched her hand and stared at it like she was drunk.

After several minutes where she slowly felt her mind center itself again, she grabbed her scroll. "You call that healing?" she typed.

"Well, your arm is better." Jaune replied, pointing at it.

Neo noticed, sure, but healing was healing. _That _was some biblical stuff. He had enhanced her aura. Her soul. What does that even mean? He didn't even look winded, but she felt like she could have made an illusion as large as Vale, or tanked a Bullhead crash.

"I'll give you anything you want. Just agree?" She typed, a sort of desperation in her that she wouldn't normally reveal.

Her pleading face was enough. "I guess so." He agreed.

She smiled toothily, and Jaune wasn't sure if it was cute or dangerous.

Nobody said it couldn't be both.


	3. Chapter Three

It wasn't even a day later that he was settled in a four bedroom house in a town about half an hour north of Vale by Bullhead. It was a nice place, furnished but with hardly any personal effects. He had some Lien cards in his pocket, and he had just enjoyed his first shower since before he left home.

Then, he was conflicted. He was a huntsman. He slayed Grimm, and he had done it on his own. It was what he wanted. But... what would he do besides that? Until he accepted Neo's offer, he was just wandering. Helping people was great. Fulfilling. But he heard people talk about burn out. Would he work too hard? How hard could he go before he was making mistakes?

Jaune didn't have that answer yet.

He stopped, noticing his leg had been bouncing thoughtlessly in wasted energy.

Jaune grabbed his bag and his sword and took off. "Time to continue the hunt." He murmured, and he felt his soul lighten his step.

~_Line Break_~

Another Grimm slain, its' corpse dissolving into black dust and drifting in the wind as Jaune flicked his sword to clear the liquid viscera that lightly clung to the blade. It too dissolved, blowing away as Jaune moved to his next enemy.

It was a dance of death, one that always held just one survivor.

His scroll, a gift from Neo, rang. He read its' message as he severed the head of an attacking beowolf.

"Stopping by for a visit. You home? I'm bringing ice cream." It read.

"Not too far away." He replied. "I'll be there in a few minutes." He texted, slicing and attacking Ursa's arm in half before stabbing it in the throat.

There was a certain anatomy to a Grimm, even if it was nearly impossible to study. Part of it was that an injury that could be considered fatal would make them succumb and dissolve before you would know it. They had respiratory systems, and needed to breath. It's just that this Ursa would attack a few more times before it suddenly died, instead of clawing at its' throat like a human or normal animal would, or collapsing.

Jaune cut off the other Ursa's arm and walked away as it struggled to bite at him, only to fall on it's missing and crippled front limbs, and struggling to reach him.

It, like all the rest, dissolved into mist, black as night.

~_Line Break_~

Jaune had time to shower before Neo arrived, and did so. Dressed casually as ever, he was sitting on a couch when she entered the house.

"Hey." He greeted, waving in acknowledgement.

She waved back, as much of a greeting as he could get without something to read, he figured.

He heard the freezer close, a sure sign that she had finished putting away her ice cream, though he had to wait to see if she had already gotten a bowl.

He didn't wait long, and she had gotten a bowl. A bowl for half of the half-gallon of ice cream, that she offered to him. The other half was still in its' carton in her hand, and he chuckled a little before taking the bowl. "Thanks."

She nodded and began eating her ice cream with obvious relish, feet kicked up and shoes discarded.

Jaune ate his as well, enjoying the sugar and sweetness after the time he had spent with meal bars and fire cooked meat.

It was astonishing how long a month could feel when you were doing so much.

A delicate foot nudged his arm, making him turn to look at the owner of said appendage.

"What's up?" He asked.

She lazily waved her hand as a sign appeared in his vision. "Can you get some chocolate syrup?" It read.

Jaune wasn't sure how to feel about the apparition. It was either he was hallucinating, or his 'partner' just used her semblance or something to ask for a condiment.

Both were pretty likely, he figured. He went to get the syrup.

She nodded her appreciation and eagerly poured the syrup into her ice cream. This told Jaune that he hadn't imagined her asking, and he wouldn't have so easily confused her scroll with some sign.

He finished his ice cream. Wasn't like her semblance was that crazy. Probably wasn't just signs though, or she wouldn't be a huntress that wanted someone in reserve in case they got injured.

In any event, he had to consider what else he wanted in life. Was being a hero to any random village or town enough when there were such great tragedies as towns being overrun and endless fighting at the walls?

Yes, Jaune thought. He rather thought it was. Before Neo had tracked him down, he saw one huntress being overwhelmed out of tens of towns that needed help.

Maybe it was enough. Being a huntsman didn't mean he had to be the hero of the story. He could play a side character or even a distant plot thread. He would do what he could to help everyone he saw.


	4. Chapter Four

The first time Neo actually needed to be healed, he was still at the house. She skipped in like she wasn't trailing blood and looked at him inquisitively.

It certainly wasn't life threatening, but he was going to be a faster and cleaner fix than just her aura could manage. A hospital might give her stitches, and he negated the need.

A quick use of his semblance later, she was back to full health, as well as overflowing with aura.

She waved as she left, texting him a "Thanks" as the door closed behind her.

Jaune decided that he was getting use to her, seeing as he hadn't even panicked when she strolled in.

"I'm going to have to clean up the blood though." He said to himself resignedly.

~_Line Break_~

He dealt with a few more minor wounds, but she seemed more than capable of keeping herself hearty and healthy. At most, she would have gotten a few scars that she didn't have.

At least, until she came in one day, a frown in place of her ever present smile.

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked, immediately noticing her mood.

A sign flickered into existence, reading "I'm going to need you closer by. Within ten minutes flying, or somewhere in the city."

Jaune felt his guts shift in a way he couldn't quite name. "Why?"

The sign changed. "There's a change in operations. It's looking like it'll be a little more dangerous, and some people are going to possibly be tailing me. They'll wonder why I'm going so far, and it should be for just a couple months."

Jaune sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I can move, I guess. I'll need to be close to the outskirts if you can manage it... and I can't be too close to Beacon."

Neo blinked, changing her eye colors between her eyes as she was want to do. "Why not? You a sex offender?"

Jaune laughed suddenly until he coughed. "No- no. People at Beacon might recognize me and try to let my dad know where I am."

Neo cocked her head to the side. "Your dad?" she asked.

Jaune quirked a brow at her. "Huh? I guess I never told you, but I thought it would be obvious with my gear. I'm the only male scion of the Arc family."

Neo was somewhat aware of history, enough to recognize the name Arc, at least. One of the heroes of the Color War, and had a statue in the middle of Beacon.

It explained the sigil on his shield, even if she had yet to actually see it fully extended.

"The yellow death." Her sign read in realization.

"Yea. If Beacon staff sees me, they might recognize me and inform my father. From there, it could be anywhere from four hours to never that I would get found and dragged home, depending on if he cares and whether he lets my sisters know."

"It's fine. I have a place on the other side of Vale from Beacon, towards the edge of the city. It's close enough." Her sign read.

Jaune nodded. "Okay."

~_Line Break_~

The new place wasn't as overly grandiose as the last. It was a simple 2 bedroom apartment, kind of tucked away from any main roads or routes.

It was, however, more than half an hour to walk to leave the safety of the city, and Jaune realized that the trip would make the increased danger Neo had informed him of be difficult to respond to, if he was too far away to be able to help her immediately.

So, he needed a vehicle. Out of the two vehicles that he could get for himself to use outside of the city's walls, he figured he'd have more of a struggle using a bullhead than a motorcycle.

Getting the vehicle was easy. Told the salesman what he wanted and offered to pay in cash, and he had a nice bike with a long warranty without much trouble. The contract seemed to be based on some kind of school kid, talked about fender benders and crap. Good thing the only problems Jaune was thinking of were Grimm damages, which were thoughtfully included on the _off chance_ that he saw any Grimm.

Either way, he now could delve into the thick of Grimm infested woods again. Only... Vale was pretty well protected. Grimm hardly even tried to attack unless they were passing through, and long range weaponry picked them off long before they were a problem.

Why were the Grimm still in control of over 90% of the available land when companies like Schnee Dust were producing so much dust that shops could afford to stockpile it instead of directly giving it to the Hunters and Huntresses?

Were Grimm a valid threat or not? The city of Vale itself was packed, so why were there not more cities with more supply lines?

Hell, he could kill Grimm pretty easily and he'd barely been gone two or three months. Why was it that they were considered so dangerous?

The barest glint of light caught his attention, and Jaune twitched to the right. His eyes locked onto a cloaked figure's on a neighboring rooftop that had a rifle scoped at his direction. They hadn't fired, there was no smoking gun, but a look of understanding passed between the two.

I caught you, but I can't make it over there before you run away.

You caught me, and I have more information now. You won't stop me from delivering it.

Since when did Jaune have to deal with people too?


End file.
